Differentiated Instruction is an instructional philosophy that increases learning for ALL students. The concept of differentiated instruction is based on the fact that students come to school with a wide range of experiences and prior knowledge, variances in academic ability, learning styles, and interests. When teachers differentiate instruction, they use a variety of practices and strategies to match learners’ needs with appropriate materials.
IT4Educators‘ courses offer instruction tools and strategies that fit right in with the differentiated instruction model. Also, there is a myriad of Web 2.0 tools available for the educational setting that embraces differentiated instruction. This wiki from Kent ISD is one terrific resource: Technology Tools for Differentiation
Course creation is tremendously rewarding and actually quite fun. Courses we create at IT4Educators always have the characteristics of being professionally engaging to us and relevant to best practice in teaching and learning.
The course I am working on right now is a Google Search course. Ryan already offers a Google Integration course which is a terrific survey course allowing exploration of a myriad of Google tools. My new course will be specifically related to all (or most) of the Google search tools.
I’m not talking about your grandmother’s Google. I’m talking about cool, relevant tools specifically designed for classroom use.
When I was in Boulder last summer at the Google Teacher Academy, I was overwhelmed with new learning regarding all that is Google. What really hit home for me was Google Custom Search, a solution I’ve been longing for. Google Custom Search is a great tool for directed, intentional, safe web searches for students.
With Google Custom Search you can give your students authentic search experiences in a safe environment. You determine the sites that students are searching, and you can also scaffold student learning by adding key word suggestions to the search page.
Google Custom Search is one of many Google search tools you will integrate into teaching and learning with the new course.
Watch for it to appear in our IT4Educators course listings in May or June. Also coming soon, is a Google Docs course developed by Ryan.
Think outside the box...how can you use Twitter in Education?
Twitter in Education is a course that IT4Educators will be offering starting spring. This course focuses on two driving questions…1) How can you use Twitter with students? 2) How can you use the social networking aspects of Twitter to create a dynamic Personal Learning Network (PLN) in an effort to create a learning environment that supports personal professional development.
Twitter is no longer “What are you doing”, but “What can I share with others”? Educators can share and learn about many great resources and strategies with and from other educators.
*Check out this resource for some classroom uses of Twitter*
I’ve been working the past couple of weekends creating a new course that I am really excited about. I’m developing Blogging for Teaching and Learning as a 3-credit online course that will help the learner discover how to access blogs for professional development and collaboration, how to create and manage a blog, and how to integrate blogs and blogging into teaching and learning in the classroom. Look for this new addition to our course listings in April or May.
Here is the first draft of the course description: Explore the educational potential of blogs and blogging. Freely available and easy to use web-based tools make blogging a means for teachers to communicate with students and families and to build a network of colleagues and collaborators to support best practice. Blogging is also an authentic, engaging and interactive classroom activity for students that provides a vehicle to share ideas, develop writing, and reflect on work. In this course you will learn how to find blogs that are relevant and meaningful to you professionally; how to create your own blog; and, how to set up blogging as an experiential learning tool in your classroom.
